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Hereditary


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Imagine if you will, a pro skateboarder doing a meticulous and incredibly complicated trick, something so intricate and spectacular that you are left in wonder at what you are seeing.  Then imagine that guy trips on the landing and eats shit face-first on the concrete.  That is Hereditary.

 

I ignored some red flags early on: the predictable progression of the plot, Toni Collette's ridiculous faces, the various red herrings, and the literature class about Hercules that was clearly Black Freightering the message of the movie but right around the time that smiling naked man shows up the movie just goes for broke in a gambit that does not pay off at all.  The last 10-or-so minutes features some of the most fucked up shit I have ever seen in a movie and it is

hilarious.  This stuff would've been yanked out of an Evil Dead movie for being too over the top and Hereditary just fucking dives in headfirst.  I'm not even sure I dislike the ending but I have never seen a movie so completely and thoroughly lift the heavy weight of my shoulders in a split second like this one dead.  My brain was full of dark thoughts from the previous hour and 50 minutes but I was shaking my head in wonder (I really did expect the kid to go "What the FUCK are you talking about?")  What a complete cock-up of a finish.

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I think that's why I liked the ending so much. 

 

It's so fucking WEIRD. I was so concerned it was gonna end with something as cliche as Toni Collette is just crazy and shows her doing all the horrible shit in the movie through flashbacks (like you said, all those red herrings. That mental illness stuff was really played up), that the ending caught me off guard and wasn't what I was expecting at all. The more I think about it, the more I like it.

 

All that said, I don't even really disagree with you Baytor. But I cant wait to see what this director does next.

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Oh it was audacious for sure and I don't even have a problem with the way things played out but it just heightened things so much that they came off silly rather than traumatic.  They just tried to do too much and killed the wonderful atmosphere they had so carefully built along the way.  I'm definitely glad they didn't go with the other ending you're talking about

 

Jacob's Ladder is the only movie I'll allow to pull that shit

but I think they should have been as slow and meticulous with the ending as they wete with the rest of the movie, I think the frantic pace was a large part of why it seemed so comical.

 

I'm definitely down for more Ari Aster, a great movie with a goofus ending is still a pretty good ratio especially for a first feature film.  

Edited by Iambaytor
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I've stated before that I'm not a big fan of horror films, but I do dig a good thriller/suspense film now and then. I think that's why I dug A Quiet Place. Normally I'd skip a film like Hereditary based on the trailer, but I've got MoviePass, so it's basically free to watch. I'm definitely more curious to see it now after  reading some of the posts in here. I might give it a look after I knock out Ocean's 8, Hotel Artemis, and Incredibles ii. 

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Got to catch it this weekend, and I gotta say - I really did enjoy it. I think maybe it got hyped up a /touch/ too much for my taste. People we throwing shit like, Babadook at me and I was like..ok so we're gonna see some shit go down - which it did, but I think the directors choice to change the direction of the film rapidly (he's said so in interviews, to keep tension), ultimately makes the ending fall short. There's no time for the audience to take in the thing he's trying to setup and so you just get kinda a flaccid ending out of it. 

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  • 3 months later...

this shit was good

 

i too appreciate them not going the obvious mental health way at certain points: i.e., there was at least 2x i was so sure the mom was gonna try crazy shit & it'd fail and make her look crazier, but it didn't.  that was quietly refreshing.



 

speaking of, yeah toni collette made crazy shining-esque faces but i dug them, i really thought she was a better actor than horror movies usually call for personally 

 

another fun bit was the bait-and-switch with the daughter: even i felt a bit of shock when she got brutally relieved of her head.  fuck!  ya'll went and cast this old looking little girl that was already creeping me out, swear to god for a second i thought the brother'd go home deeply traumatized & wake up to find her at the breakfast table or some shit

 

the one thing i called was homegirl "helping with the loss" being part of grandma's cult, and from there it really sets up a rosemary's baby/witch type ending, so i was down.  i knew them not cutting before doing all that up in the treehouse would be too much for some folks - as was said here, it deliberately bucks the great pacing that was built prior - but i've been okay with shlock like paranormal activity 3 doing it (and to this day still love the shit out of Darkness), it was a bit more exposition than i'd expected but it was crazy to hear that the daughter'd been a failed host

 

so down for more from this director...speaking of

 

On 6/9/2018 at 12:21 AM, Axels said:

Here's a taste from the same director and it's FUCKED up.

 

 

 

a fucked up short film?  oh this is getting watched this month for sure 

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I really loved Hereditary. I can see why it was so divisive with audiences, though. It definitely goes off the rails at the end, but...

 

Spoiler

as soon as Annie found the books and photo album, I was expecting some crazy Rosemary's Baby type ending. And that's exactly what we got. It didn't feel as jarring a tone shift as the ending of The Witch. 

 

This movie stays with you. I've been thinking about it since I woke up this morning. I'd like to go back at some point and just watch the beginning part again to see all the little comments and hints that will make much more sense now. But I'm gonna need some time. That was far too intense!! 

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